DAY ONE RECAP: Serious Business 2014

Who do you trust? When do you trust? How do you build trust? Trust me? These are the fundamental questions of Serious Business 2014. Here, we explore the answers with our first day's set of speakers; Randy Gage, Lauren Gartland-Roberts, Dr. Henry Cloud, Danielle LaPorte, John DiJulius, Tom Kuhn, Keri Davis, Susan Haise and Wendy Watkins.

Randy Gage on Survival and Memes

Gage began his speech by sharing his story of conquering death. Gage was shot in the abdomen during a robbery in Miami, Florida. "Getting shot was an amazing gift, because I don't ever take a sunset or a sunrise for granted," he said. Laying in a pool of his own blood, changed his perspective on life and his place in it. Gage challenged the audience to "see though a bigger window, to act bigger, to become bigger."

Serious Business gives salon professionals the opportunity to see their industry and the world though a wider window. "It's not a matter of what, it's a matter of when," Gage said. "Because we all will face adversities at some point in our lives. The question is where do we go from there? And do we trust ourselves to lead us to a better place."

Gage described memes as mind viruses, infections in the brain that inhibit us from making clear and conscious decisions. Titanic is the most evil movie ever made, he said. Because of its use of subliminal messages. Gage specifically disproves of the idea that rich people are evil and that it is "spiritual to be poor."

Gage asked the audience to reprogram their minds to become more aware of the programming that is trying to control their belief systems. He stated that reprogramming is accomplished through critical thinking. Gage used the example of a salon owner: He/she may not consciously believe that they are taking and advantage of their employees, but subconsciously they have been wired through pop culture and social media to believe that the only way to become successful is to be dishonest and manipulative to their team members.

Dr. Henry Cloud on the Foundations of Trust and Pruning

Foundations of Trust. "Businesses and communities are intertwined, by the life that you bring inside and outside of your business," Cloud said. Trust is at the center of these connections. Cloud broke down trust into four pillars.

1. Trust is built on the dynamic of being understood. "We trust someone when they understand what we understand. When they know what are reality is," Cloud said. This connection creates a biochemical reaction, attaching two human beings to one another.

2.We trust people who are good at ending things. "People who are successful at businesses don't hold onto things past their expiration date," he said. Be able to easily let go of things and make hard calls.

3.We trust people who have a focused and executable attention. They are able to attend to what is relevant, to shut out everything that is not and to keep current all the time. "Great businesses are built on leadership, knowing the key factors to drive your business forward and keeping those factors in the forefront of your mind," Cloud said.

4.We trust a place that has a positive and emotional climate.

Pruning. Letting go of areas, people or businesses, can be difficult. Cloud compared the idea of ending things go to pruning a rosebush.

Effective Pruning. Rosebuds produce more buds than the plant can sustain. The gardener must prune the best branches, so that the plant will survive. "This is true of life," Cloud said. "We gather many things in our lives and there are only a few things that truly deserve our time and focus."

Pruning Sick Branches. Sick branches may come in the form of old strategies or destructive people. Cloud describes descibes these branches as the areas in your life that won't improve despite proper care. "More effort will not produce a better result," he stated. "These branches need clipping."

Danielle LaPorte on Core Desired Feelings and Goal Setting

Goal Setting. Many of us are tortured by our desires to achieve goals. "Chasing the way you feel when you achieve the goal is not the same as chasing the goal," LaPorte shared. Get clear on how you want to feel and then you will be well equipped to create effective goals she said.

Core Desired Feelings. LaPorte also shared her technique to discover your core desired feelings. She asked the audience to create four lists; One for work, finance and livelihood, The second for relationships with children, family members, peers and friends, The third for health and the final list for faith, spiritually, mental state and appearance. Next, LaPorte instructed the audience to desribe in one or two sentences, how they would like to feel in each of those areas of their lives. Then she asked to narrow those feelings into five over-arching desires and ending with measuring your goals against those desires. If your goal doesn't align with how you would like to feel in your life than LaPorte says it is not right for you.

John DiJulius on Potential and Creating Extraordinary Lives DiJulius began his segment with a quote, "God must have loved ordinary people, because he made so many of us. But every day ordinary people do extraordinary things." DiJulius challenged the audience to think big. He shared that it was that thinking that lead him to leave his job at UPS and enroll in beauty school when he and his wife opened the first John Robert's Spa in 1993.

Creating Extraordinary Lives. Your potential goes beyond your own personal goals,"DiJulius said. "Customer service is utilizing the potential inside of you to make sure that every client or employee at your salon feels valued and respected."

Topics:

About the Author:

Chandler Rollins

Since October 2013, Chandler has worked at Modern Salon Media producing print and online content. As the Modern Salon Media Associate Editor for MODERN SALON magazine, she contributes to the Style Watch, Ask the Experts, Modern Man, Face and Body, Product Spotlight and Goods. For MODERNSALON.COM, Chandler assists with posting blogs and articles, the Product section and product reviews.